Jurys Doyle Hotel Group said it maintained the growth momentum seen in the six months to October over the last two months of the year.

The hotel group recorded a pre-tax profit of €37.3 million in the eight months ended December, a 2 per cent increase on the year-earlier period. A good performance from its London hotels, a recovery in its Washington hotels and a strong showing from its inns remained the key drivers of growth.

If a once-off gain of €1.08 million on the sale of its Skylon and Waterford hotels is included, pre-tax profits were up by 5 per cent to €38.3 million.

Turnover rose by 1 per cent to €183.8 million while adjusted earnings per share were broadly steady at 50.4 cents, slightly ahead of analysts' expectations.

The company is proposing to pay a final dividend of 7.19 cent per share, bringing its dividend for the eight-month period to 15.33 per cent per share, an increase of 5 per cent.

Jurys is reporting for an eight- month period because it is changing its year-end from April to December.

The group's average room rate was steady at €93 over the period while occupancy was up by 4 per cent to 80 per cent.

Revenue per available room (Revpar) also rose by 4 per cent to €74, helped by a particularly strong performance in the US where it rose by 19 per cent.

However, the group said it was too early to give an indication of the outcome for the current year.

"In the short term, the geo-political environment is the dominant influence on trading conditions and, at this stage, it is uncertain how international events will impact on the group's business over the next few months," it said.

Chief executive Mr Pat McCann said the group was "not unhappy" with its performance over the first two months of the year but it was too soon to call it.

He added the group would give the next forecast of how the business will perform at the annual meeting on May 6th.

Meanwhile, the company is continuing with the roll-out of its inns which now account for 29 per cent of turnover and 36 per cent of operating profits.

Jurys opened its latest inn - a 274-bedroom property in Newcastle - in mid-February and said it had performed very well to date.

Construction is progressing on new inns in Glasgow, Leeds and Chelsea while the company has also begun building work on the new 253-bedroom inn planned for Parnell Street in Dublin.